On weekly charts benchmark Nifty has formed a bearish candle which supports temporary weakness, although medium-term structure is still positive.

Nifty futures gained marginally in the early trade, to 18,157.50 points, rising 13 points on Monday. BSE Sensex and Nifty 50 were likely to witness a cautious start on the first day of the week. Market participants will closely track the ongoing quarterly earnings, oil prices, rupee movement against US dollar, foreign fund flow, and other global cues. Moreover, benchmark indices may also witness volatility this week amid derivatives expiry. “On weekly charts benchmark Nifty has formed a bearish candle which supports temporary weakness, although the medium-term structure is still positive. We are of the view that for positional traders 20 day SMA or 17950 would be the key support level. On the flip side, 18300 and 18425 may act as a decisive resistance level. For day traders, 18050 would be the sacrosanct support level and above the same, a pullback rally could be seen up to 18300-18350 levels,” Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities, said.

Stocks to watch

RIL: Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd reported July-September quarter FY22 net profit at Rs 13,680 crore, a rise of 11.4 per cent, sequentially.

Tech Mahindra, Aditya Birla: BSE-listed companies such as Tech Mahindra, Indus Towers, SRF, HDFC Assest Management Company, Coforge, Colgate Palmolive, Kansai Nerolac Paints, The Ramco Cements, Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC, Home First Finance Company India, CEAT and CSB Bank will announce their September quarter results today.

ICICI Bank: ICICI Bank on Saturday reported its highest ever quarterly profit on standalone basis at Rs 5,511 crore for September quarter 2021-22 on the back of healthy loan growth across verticals, aided by fall in bad loans.

IRB InvIT: India’s first listed infrastructure investment trust, on Saturday said its revenue in September quarter 2021 increased to Rs 328 crore.

IOC: Indian Oil expects refinery run to reach 100% within a quarter as fuel demand returns, its chairman SM Vaidya said. Speaking at India Energy Forum by CERAWeek, he said petrol and cooking gas LPG demand is already above pe-Covid levels and diesel — the most consumed fuel in the country — is inching back to normalcy.

Federal Bank: Federal Bank reported a 49.62% year-on-year increase in its standalone net profit for the second quarter ended September to Rs 460.26 crore, mostly due to lower provisioning and higher income.

HDFC Life Insurance Company: Private sector life insurer HDFC Life Insurance on Friday reported a 15.84% year-on-year fall in its consolidated net profit to Rs 275.91 crore in the second quarter this fiscal from Rs 327.83 crore for the same period last fiscal.

ZEEL: The Bombay High Court is slated to pronounce its order in Zee Entertainment Enterprises’ (ZEEL) legal tangle with its largest institutional investor, Invesco Developing Markets Fund, on Tuesday. Separately, the National Company Law Tribunal’s (NCLT) Mumbai bench has adjourned the case to Wednesday.